[bertwert]

Neglecting to mention what "a" and "b" stand for?
That's 30% off of the final score. Tsk tsk...

I think... they stand for... numbers...?

[Parallax]

Lots of jokes back then.

When I was a kid (please, PLEASE, no one take this as anything other than an anecdote. Please?) one of the nicknames for them was Nazi Footlocker.

[JimJohnson]

I believe Henry Ford bought a forest in Michigan , as he liked to have control of his resources, used to build his cars.

You are correct. The land is in the NW part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The lumber processing camp was eventually donated to Michigan Technological University (Ford Forestry Center) and is still in use as hands-on lab to teach forestry classes. The area is 45-50 miles (~80km) south of our home. Kingsford is a town just about due south another 45-50 miles) near the Wisconsin border and the original home of the charcoal manufacturing plant.

Henry jr. would drive up from the Detroit area to inspect Ford's forestry ventures (~500 miles / ~800km) and often stopped at a coffee shop owned by my grandfather in the dinky little town of Michigamme. The building is in rough shape but still standing. The area is also known for its iron mines. Following the Korean War, Ford offered my grandfather a job. My grandfather knew the local economy would get rough with the reduced demand for iron ore and took the job. My father went kicking and screaming to the Detroit area and his older sisters were thrilled to leave the back woods.

I was raised in a suburb of Detroit, but we made frequent trips to the Upper Peninsula. After High School I attended Michigan Technological University, met & eventually married a local gal. We moved back to the Upper Peninsula over 30 years ago.

[mkgd1]

I remember the hinged license plate hiding the gas cap, but on American cars. When I was a very young man, a couple of buddies worked as gas station attendants and part of their job , apart from fixing flats and changing oil was to fill up gas tanks for customer's. This was in the late '60's , when a lot of American cars had hidden gas tank filler nozzles. Hiding the gas tank filler seemed to be a common design feature on cars made in the '50's and '60's.

As far as I know they were never stumped, probably due to helpful owners.

I had three VW Beetles (old, air cooled engine jobs) and my '61 had a well hidden gas tank filler. You had to pop the front hood to get to the filler and gas up. Also the engine was in the rear....but V-Dubs were so common back then the old line about popping the front hood to see no engine there, and then sound the alarm that the engine has been stolen ....didn't fool many, if any.

How did you fond the Mercedes 230, inline six ? Pretty good, reliable car ?

When it was running, it was fine,but it seemed to eat fan belts I only had it for about a year, then they gave me a volvo 245 wagon. It was not quite as powerful but was very reliable as well as more roomy.

[MarkJerling]

You are correct. The land is in the NW part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The lumber processing camp was eventually donated to Michigan Technological University (Ford Forestry Center) and is still in use as hands-on lab to teach forestry classes. The area is 45-50 miles (~80km) south of our home. Kingsford is a town just about due south another 45-50 miles) near the Wisconsin border and the original home of the charcoal manufacturing plant.

Henry jr. would drive up from the Detroit area to inspect Ford's forestry ventures (~500 miles / ~800km) and often stopped at a coffee shop owned by my grandfather in the dinky little town of Michigamme. The building is in rough shape but still standing. The area is also known for its iron mines. Following the Korean War, Ford offered my grandfather a job. My grandfather knew the local economy would get rough with the reduced demand for iron ore and took the job. My father went kicking and screaming to the Detroit area and his older sisters were thrilled to leave the back woods.

I was raised in a suburb of Detroit, but we made frequent trips to the Upper Peninsula. After High School I attended Michigan Technological University, met & eventually married a local gal. We moved back to the Upper Peninsula over 30 years ago.

I never did get to the Upper Peninsula. Furthest I got into Michigan was the rural back blocks north of Kalamazoo for a Halloween party! The Ford Museum at Dearborn was fantastic!
Michigamme seems to be a bit of a one horse town when viewed on Google Maps. I saw this interesting place name nearby: Da Yoopers Tourist Trap. At least they're honest about it!

[lesmore49]

You are correct. The land is in the NW part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The lumber processing camp was eventually donated to Michigan Technological University (Ford Forestry Center) and is still in use as hands-on lab to teach forestry classes. The area is 45-50 miles (~80km) south of our home. Kingsford is a town just about due south another 45-50 miles) near the Wisconsin border and the original home of the charcoal manufacturing plant.

Henry jr. would drive up from the Detroit area to inspect Ford's forestry ventures (~500 miles / ~800km) and often stopped at a coffee shop owned by my grandfather in the dinky little town of Michigamme. The building is in rough shape but still standing. The area is also known for its iron mines. Following the Korean War, Ford offered my grandfather a job. My grandfather knew the local economy would get rough with the reduced demand for iron ore and took the job. My father went kicking and screaming to the Detroit area and his older sisters were thrilled to leave the back woods.

I was raised in a suburb of Detroit, but we made frequent trips to the Upper Peninsula. After High School I attended Michigan Technological University, met & eventually married a local gal. We moved back to the Upper Peninsula over 30 years ago.

Great story about your family.

I think probably one of the reasons Ford wanted a forest, was back in the old days, some of a car's framing was made of wood, also the woody station wagons, truck stake bodies, etc.....were popular and used a lot of wood in their manufacture.

Now I'm not sure, but somewhere in dark, deep recesses of my mind, I seem to recall reading that this forest might of had hardwood, which would be important in the manufacture of some parts of vehicles at that time. Could be wrong.

[lesmore49]

When it was running, it was fine,but it seemed to eat fan belts I only had it for about a year, then they gave me a volvo 245 wagon. It was not quite as powerful but was very reliable as well as more roomy.

Volvos such as the PV 544 (had one), 122 (Amazon in some markets) 140, 240, 245 always appealed to me.

[Tako Kichi]

What killed the hidden gas filler cap was safety: Most '40's and '50s cars had the gas cap behind the number plate or behind one of the two tail lights. This proved to be a bad idea in rear-end collisions as the filler neck could shear off and dump a lot of flammable liquid on the road and near a hot exhaust. Hence, gas caps were moved to the rear fender side.

My F-I-L can attest to the bad idea thing! Back in '86 he had a 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 which had the filler cap behind the rear license plate. On his way to work one evening he stopped at the local gas station to fill up and was standing there, nozzle in tank, when a car pulled up at the pump behind him. Turns out the driver of the car was a learner driver and she was being coached by her older brother. She pulled up a bit short and the hose from her pump would not reach her filler cap so her brother told her to inch slowly forward about 2 feet so that he could fill the car up. Being a learner driver in an automatic car she over did the 'inch forward' thing and stomped on the gas pedal causing the car to lurch forward pinning my F-I-L between the two bumpers crushing his knees in the process!


Not the best idea at the best of times but especially when the person you just crushed with your car is a local police officer in full uniform (including gun on his hip) who was on his way to start his overnight shift! That incident put an end to my F-I-L's police career and left him needing a cane to walk with for the rest of his life and needing multiple operations over the years up to and including double knee replacement surgery a few years ago.

[tim60]

In other news, my research group has received a grant for an R&D project - large scale production of energy storage devices.

That means I don't have to freak out about the impending unemployment before finishing the [expletives] degree... and that I'll have a job working on something more practical for a year and spare change. Should be good for the CV. Terrible for LBA, though .

BTW: you now have to do the work to deliver the result they give you the money for.

[Serkevan]

BTW: you now have to do the work to deliver the result they give you the money for.

I already had to do that before, so business as usual... Only with proper pay

[MarkJerling]

My F-I-L can attest to the bad idea thing! Back in '86 he had a 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 which had the filler cap behind the rear license plate. On his way to work one evening he stopped at the local gas station to fill up and was standing there, nozzle in tank, when a car pulled up at the pump behind him. Turns out the driver of the car was a learner driver and she was being coached by her older brother. She pulled up a bit short and the hose from her pump would not reach her filler cap so her brother told her to inch slowly forward about 2 feet so that he could fill the car up. Being a learner driver in an automatic car she over did the 'inch forward' thing and stomped on the gas pedal causing the car to lurch forward pinning my F-I-L between the two bumpers crushing his knees in the process!


Not the best idea at the best of times but especially when the person you just crushed with your car is a local police officer in full uniform (including gun on his hip) who was on his way to start his overnight shift! That incident put an end to my F-I-L's police career and left him needing a cane to walk with for the rest of his life and needing multiple operations over the years up to and including double knee replacement surgery a few years ago.

Poor bugger.

[Serkevan]

My F-I-L can attest to the bad idea thing! Back in '86 he had a 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 which had the filler cap behind the rear license plate. On his way to work one evening he stopped at the local gas station to fill up and was standing there, nozzle in tank, when a car pulled up at the pump behind him. Turns out the driver of the car was a learner driver and she was being coached by her older brother. She pulled up a bit short and the hose from her pump would not reach her filler cap so her brother told her to inch slowly forward about 2 feet so that he could fill the car up. Being a learner driver in an automatic car she over did the 'inch forward' thing and stomped on the gas pedal causing the car to lurch forward pinning my F-I-L between the two bumpers crushing his knees in the process!


Not the best idea at the best of times but especially when the person you just crushed with your car is a local police officer in full uniform (including gun on his hip) who was on his way to start his overnight shift! That incident put an end to my F-I-L's police career and left him needing a cane to walk with for the rest of his life and needing multiple operations over the years up to and including double knee replacement surgery a few years ago.

Oof, talk about bad luck

---------- Post added 03-03-21 at 03:13 AM ----------

Nazi Footlocker.

So is this a good moment to bring up the "From Berlin to Warsaw in one tank" thingy?

[robtcorl]

When I was a kid (please, PLEASE, no one take this as anything other than an anecdote. Please?) one of the nicknames for them was Nazi Footlocker.

Not to worry, Mark drinks Fanta.
How Fanta Was Created for Nazi Germany

[tim60]

I already had to do that before, so business as usual... Only with proper pay

A year ago we got a modest size contract. Oh, now we must deliver.

[Serkevan]

A year ago we got a modest size contract. Oh, now we must deliver.

This is an R&D project - there are no specifics on the deliverables yet. I have a year and a half to improve some aspects of the performance, hammer out the wrinkles in manufacturing and it ought to be good to go. I don't plan to stay here forever anyway... it's a springboard back to industry in Project Engineering and R&D - the only reason I even started the PhD.

I'm also not gonna be subjected to the whims of the professor wanting publications which is a big plus.